How could you tell it was him bidding it up? Ive had some bargains.. genuine 30,000 mile 1275 which i saw the car it came from.. £35 buy it now! I hit that button in supersonic speed! And another 1275 £75.. cant find anymore like that

I don't see the problem. You bid what you want to pay. He bids the minimum he wants. If all adds up theres a sale if it doesn't there's not. I bid my stuff up all the time. It's only the same as setting a reserve.

On 16th Dec, 2014 slater said:I don't see the problem. You bid what you want to pay. He bids the minimum he wants. If all adds up theres a sale if it doesn't there's not. I bid my stuff up all the time. It's only the same as setting a reserve.

I disagree.

I put in a proxy bid on a mountain bike frame. I was the highest bidder untill the last minutes when all of a sudden, some one else kept bidding in £10 increments until I was outbid. Within half an hour of the auction ending I received a second chance offer as the 'winning bidder' had backed out, but the seller wanted my max bid price. I duely told him to fuck off as it was only worth what was bid before he started bidding up the auction. Never heard back lol

On 26th Oct, 2004 TurboDave16v said: Is it A-Series only? I think it should be...
So when some joey comes on here about how his 16v turbo vauxhall is great compared to ours, he can be given the 'bird'...

That's a bit different tho isnt it. Not what has occurred here. It's easily spotted and if you don't get time to retract your bid too just refuse to pay. Sounds like you did exactly what I'd have done. A bit annoying when its something you really want tho!

eBay is all geared against the small time seller so you need to play it to get anything out of it! Playing the actual buyer is a bit underhand tho. As a buyer try gixen next time. You won't have a problem again

The block appeared to be perfect in the pictures and description. I would have paid money for that one, but as soon as I knew he's not playing by the rules, I thought, what if the description is a lie too... how the hell can you trust someone who shill bids?

If I want something, I'll pay the going rate. Sure, sellers may want more, but why should buyers pay more than it's worth? Slater, I hope you don't sell Mini parts on eBay

I never bid directly on anything. I always use a sniping service. Figure out in advance how much you are willing to pay and tell the service how long before the end of the auction you want your bid to drop. Don't get caught up in the excitement of the bidding, don't give other bidders a chance to increase their bids incrementally. If the bid goes over your maximum you don't get the item. If you win the auction you have paid a price that you felt reasonable.
The seller should either set his starting bid high enough that he is willing to sell the item at that price, or he should set a reserve price. He should NOT feel the need to use shill bidding which is a less than totally honest tactic (and which will often require the seller to pay auction fees for an item he sold to himself....

I find it just as annoying anyone when someone shill bids their own items up.

Regarding the argument that a buyer should set a reserve. It makes no sense as the fee just to add the reserve equates to £8 on a £100 item. Add this to final value fees and paypal fees and it gets to the point of being circa 20% down, daylight robbery in my opinion.

A reserve price should be free, much like it was when I started using ebay in 2005

eBay have changed the fees recently and the reserve fee only applies if the reserve is £50 or more. Overall, the fees are much clearer now, and seem to have gone up again - 'Daylight robbery' pretty much sums it up.

I'm still hacked off, so I've also gone and reported a load of his other items under...